Romans read the PJO series the lightning thief
by fourtris and percabeth 5ever
Summary: The Romans receive five books about a demigod. Big question is:Why and Will they ever meet this Percy Jackson kid? Read and find out what the Romans themselves think about the series.
1. Chapter 1

As Reyna walked in to her room she noticed five books sitting on her bed along with a note that read "Dear beloved Romans (Reyna, Hazel, Gwen, Dakota, Frank and Octavian) please take your time to read this book. It's important plus you guys will love it! Much love, Venus". In no time Reyna gathered them up in the Mess Principia library. "So where are the books?" asked Gwen "Right here" said Reyna picking all five books up "Which one should we ready first Reyna asked. "Which ever has the number one Reyna…duh" Octavian commented with a sneer at the end Reyna ignored his last piece of comment and picked up the book "Percy Jackson and The Olympians" she read out loud "I'll read first" she added on. The name Percy Jackson sounded very familiar to her but it just didn't click she put that thought aside

**I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher. **

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

"Wait what?! He's a half-blood? Why haven't we heard of him?" asked Dakota "To tell you the truth, I have no idea what's so ever" responded Reyna

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

They all shrugged and Reyna kept reading

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways. **

Everyone looked down, sadly this was true and they had to deal with it

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think its fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

"So true!" Dakota screamed, everyone looked at him "What? It's true" Reyna sighed and kept reading

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

"Well isn't it too late for that" Octavian interrupted

**Don't say I didn't warn you. My name is Percy Jackson.**

"There's that name again. Where did I meet him?" Reyna thought to herself

**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

"A half-blood in New York isn't that dangerous?" asked Frank. Everyone looked puzzled even Reyna

**Am I a troubled kid? Yeah. You could say that. **

"Well of course" Reyna thought "He's a half-blood. It makes sense"

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

Reyna looked up her fellow campers gestured her to keep reading

**I know—it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were.**

"Oh that's so true I went to a museum like that…that's when I found out what I was…" Gwen stated "But go on"

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

"So he's Roman" Frank thought out loud "But why haven't we heard of him" Hazel asked

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep. **

"Maybe he's one of those lonely ones" guessed Dakota

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

Reyna grinned

**Boy, was I wrong. **

"What could've gone wrong?" asked Dakota "Monsters, duh" Gwen answered him taking away his Kool-Aid "HEY! Give it back!" Dakota screamed at her "Settle down" Reyna said

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway. And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

"Wow, and I thought I had bad luck" Frank said

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

Octavian scowled

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich. Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria. **

The campers laughed at Nancy's last name "Bobofit!" Dakota screamed in pain from laughter rolling on the floor "WHAT IS AIR!" cried Gwen. They all settled down and Reyna kept reading

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip. **

"That's sucks…" Hazel said

**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled. **

"Short temper much?" someone commented

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter." **

"In my hair" Dakota added

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch. **

Dakota fist pumped but everyone ignored him

**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat. **

"Awe! C'mon!" everyone looked at Dakota. "What I wanted to see er- hear a fight"

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens." **

Nobody said anything, they all knew the answer

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into. **

"Oh gods" Hazel said

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

"Ya don't say" Octavian added

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery. **

"He's really creative with words" Gwen interrupted

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years. **

"Ha, I'm not the only one!" Gwen cried out that came out in a half evil laughter. Everyone looked at her like she was crazy "Go on" she finally said

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

"Mortals" scowled Octavian

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

"Scary" Frank mumbled

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

Gwen laughed everyone turned to her and got just one inch away from her

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodd's was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"Damn, I'd hate to be her student" Gwen said

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art. **

"_Graecus_" Octavian snorted in disgust

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?" **

"Score for Percy!" Dakota high-fived Frank

**It came out louder than I meant it to. **

Dakota face palmed him self

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

"Ouch" Hazel commented

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?" **

"Stupid, stupid, stupid" Gwen muttered to herself

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir." **

"Who calls their teacher Sir?" Gwen asked \

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?" **

"It represents awesomeness" Dakota commented cracking a smile. Gwen smacked him upside the head "OUCH! What was that for?" "You keep interrupting" she said in a hurried voice

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

Reyna knew that feeling. It sucked being a half-blood you suffer from ADHD

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ..." **

"C'on Percy you know-" Reyna stopped herself when she noticed she was talking to a book

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and—" **

"The kid's stupid" Octavian said "Shut up" Hazel said and gestured Reyna to keep reading

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked. **

Octavian muttered something under his breath that Reyna couldn't understand

**"Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

Everyone in the room shuttered

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me. "—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

"He should've told her to shut up too" Gwen commented

**Some snickers from the group.**

"Whoa, it's like if you were there and they laughed at your comment" Dakota told Gwen. A smirk crossed her face "Creepy"

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. **

Octavian growled. For some reason he hated when people took all the gods and goddess thing as a joke. Well who didn't but Octavian took it to the butt

**Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'" **

"Alright" Octavian got up from his seat "Where does this Nancy live?" "Octavian, please sit down" Reyna told him

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?" **

"Because you'll end up fighting monsters son." Dakota explained

**"Busted," Grover muttered. **

"Who?" asked Gwen, everyone got farther away from her. "You do know your talking to a book?" Hazel questioned her. Gwen's face got tomato read

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed her face even brighter red than her hair. **

"Is that even possible?" asked Frank, he has been silent for so long Hazel almost forgot he was there. Nobody answered his question and Reyna kept reading

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears. **

"I like him" Dakota spoke up "Er I mean the teacher and not in _that _way"

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir." **

"C'mon Percy!" Dakota shot up from his seat "I just told you the answer!" "You know it's just a book right?" Reyna asked him "But still" Dakota sat down "Go on" he added on

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?" **

"Talking about food…isn't it breakfast time?" asked Gwen "We'll have to eat here" Reyna said. Soon enough they were eating one strict rule though: NO CRUMS

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses. **

"Immature" Octavian commented

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

"Oh someone's in trouble" whispered Hazel

**I knew that was coming.**

Gwen started biting her nails

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

Dakota stood up "You Percy Jackson are a half-blood!" "Dakota!" Hazel yelled at him "sit down"

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything. **

Octavian waved his hand aside "You crazy Percy." Everyone turned to him "What I can't have a crazy moment?" No one answered

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

"It's as if he's a trainer" said Hazel

**"About the Titans?" **

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

"Really Percy just 'Oh' humph" Reyna thought

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

Gwen snapped her fingers "He has to be a trainer!"

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

"Good" Reyna mumbled

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life. **

Frank looked at Reyna "We should do that…well except the Greek part but other than that we should do that"

**No—he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

Reyna looked up expecting someone to interrupt but Gwen just gestured to keep reading

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

Reyna's eyes went wide, but no one took notice in her so she kept reading

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch. **

"Mmmmm" Dakota just looked down….disappointed

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue. **

"I'd leave" commented Gwen

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

"Positive thinking Percy" Hazel said

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing. **

"Damn! Girl stealing right on the spot" Dakota shook his head "What a shame"

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

Nobody said a word

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

"Nah" Gwen said out loud and once again they got farther away from her

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius." Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

"I think Gwen is turning into Percy" Dakota said "Plus you two think a like" added on Hazel

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

Dakota did a hand gesture to Gwen, as if he was asking her for his flask back "No" she responded

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

"Awwwwwe" Gwen whispered to herself

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table. **

"Now all he needs is a chair!" Dakota said and well with that Gwen smacked him on the head again

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

Gwen started to say "She's a real b-" "Language" Reyna reminded her

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos. **

Everyone started laughing uncontrollably even Octavian cracked a smile "the way he describes her!" Dakota said holding his stomach. Once everyone settled down Reyna kept reading

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears. **

Reyna scowled "Yeah as if that ever works"

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!" **

Gwen stood up to say something but Reyna cut her off by reading

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

"Creepy" Hazel said

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—" "—the water—" "—like it grabbed her—"**

Someone was going to say something but Reyna cut them off

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

"Uh-oh" mumbled Frank

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—" "I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

Reyna heard some shifting noises she looked up and it was Dakota fighting Gwen for his flask "Gwen, just give him the flask" "Yes Reyna" and with that Dakota got his flask

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"Oh gods!" Dakota screamed out loud making Reyna jump "What?!" Octavian said looking annoyed "Its Dinner time! So can we take a break?" Dakota asked "Are you crazy?" Reyna snapped back at him "It's not even lunch time plus we just ate" by this time Dakota could tell he was getting on her nerves "Sorry for interrupting Reyna"

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

"Gods Percy might as well wear a sign that read 'Kill me please'" Reyna thought to herself

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her." **

"Such a loyal friend" Hazel said smiling

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

"Mhm" Frank added on to Hazels comment

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled. **

"Whiskery? That's odd" Reyna said

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said. **

"Well then f-" "Dakota language" Reyna cut him off before he could finish the last words

**"But—" **

"Shush" Gwen added in

**"You—will—stay—here."**

Gwen's eyes went wide open

**Grover looked at me desperately. **

"At least he tried" Gwen said

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

Dakota looked at Gwen with suspicion "Are you related to Percy?" he asked "What?! No, not at all. I mean I'm pretty sure I know my relatives" once again everyone scooted an inch away from her

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now." **

"If I were Percy I'd be like 'Girl hold up!'" Gwen commented snapping her fingers in a Z formation "Now you're turning into Dakota" Octavian told her. Gwen just sinked into her seat while Dakota tried to hug her "You're awesome!" he whispered

**Nancy Bobofit smirked. **

Dakota was still hugging Gwen. "Get off of me" she told him "It's okay Gwen you just need a little love" he responded this time he was patting her on the head "Boy! If you don't get your hands off of me I will cut you" Dakota stopped hugging her "Whoa there no need to get all violent"

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare. Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

"Dakota stop trash talking" Hazel said

**How'd she get there so fast? I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.** **I wasn't so sure. **

Everyone just nodded they knew how it felt and couldn't help feeling bad for Percy

**I went after Mrs. Dodds. Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

"Why do I have the feeling something bad is going happen" asked Frank, Hazel was going to say something but Octavian caught her eye and he told her to shut up.

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

"Um Reyna" Gwen asked, Reyna raised an eyebrow "Yes?" "Quick question; are we allowed to speak about the book to anyone else?" Reyna thought about it "No" she said firmly "I don't want ah to start panic"

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

"Let's hop so" Reyna thought to herself

**But apparently that wasn't the plan. **

By this time Reyna started to bite her nails she was anxious to find out what happens

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

They were all at the edge of their seats wanting to know what was going to happen next

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

Reyna waited for someone to interrupt but not a single noise

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

Octavian gave a puzzled look on his face and mouthed "Growling?"

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it... **

By this time Reyna figured no one was going to interrupt her. They all wanted to know what was going to happen.

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said. **

She heard a scared squeal looked up but they just told her to hurry and start reading again

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am." **

"Phew"

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?" **

"Acting like if it-" Octavian cut Dakota off "Shush"

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil. **

Gwen started to bite her nails and something appeared next to Hazel feet but it quckly sunk back into the floor

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me. **

"Oh gods"

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am." **

Dakota started to take hits from his flask

**Thunder shook the building.**

Reyna started to read faster but she carefully read the words she didn't want to miss a thing

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

At Hazels feet tiny diamonds started to appear but kept plopping back in, every time they plopped back in Hazel looked a little bit more tiered. Reyna decided she'd talk with Hazel about that later

**I didn't know what she was talking about. All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book. **

"Let's hope so Percy" Reyna thought to herself

**"Well?" she demanded. **

At this point Octavian was holding on tightly to one of his teddy bears

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

Dakota sat forward

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

Reyna took a deep breath and started to read

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

Octavian shot up from his seat and yelled "Fury, it's a Fury!" Dakota cracked a smile "_a shriveled_ _hag" _

**Then things got even stranger. **

No one said a thing which surprised Reyna

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand. **

Hazel raised an eyebrow

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air. **

"As if a pen is going to save him" Octavian smiled mischievously

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me. **

Octavian was going to say something but Reyna cut him off

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

Hazel's eyes went wide open and whispered something like "I knew it" well that's what Reyna thought

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

So many thoughts raced through Reyna's head but she pushed them aside and kept reading. "I'll address them later" she thought to herself

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

"That be bad" Reyna thought

**She snarled, "Die, honey!" **

Dakota was about the say something but Gwen just gave him the best shut-up look

**And she flew straight at me. **

No one said a thing

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

Dakota began to slow clap "Success for Percy Jackson"

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss! Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

A chill ran down Reyna's back. She knows what Percy was talking about

**I was alone.**

Reyna looked up and saw the unbelievable: Gwen taking a drink from Dakota's flask

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand. **

"Lame" commented Dakota and with that we received another smack upside the head from Gwen

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me. **

"Okay, Mr. Brunner is starting to freak me out" said Gwen "Yeah no doubt" agreed Dakota

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

"Stay above the influence k- OUCH! Why'd you hit me?" "Because you speak non-sense Dakota" Gwen told him

**Had I imagined the whole thing? I went back outside. **

"Best thing to do" Reyna thought to herself

**It had started to rain.**

Hazel made the funniest face "Yuck"

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

"Mrs. Kerr, I thought it was Mrs. Dodds?" Gwen looked lost "The mist" Reyna answered her question "it fools mortals…remember?" Gwen looked relived "Oh yeah"

**I said, "Who?"**

Dakota gave himself a mini face palm

**"Our teacher. Duh!" **

"Look Octavian that Nancy girl is like you, she likes to say 'Duh' a lot" Reyna said. Octavian gave her the nastiest smile "Oh so funny"

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

"Gods, now he's going to be named: Crazy Percy" everyone looked at Dakota possibly questioning if he was insane

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

"I would've done the same…" Octavian's voice disappeared into a scared look "Oh gods I am turning into that Nancy girl" he started to touch his face making sure it was still his. Reyna cracked a smile

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

"Yeah, as if his mortal friend knows" Octavian sneered

**He said, "Who?"**

"Told ya" he added on. Everyone looked at him like if he might be crazy.

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"You stand corrected!" laughed Dakota

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious." **

Dakota snapped his fingers in a Z formation but no one paid him any attention, not even Gwen.

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

Octavian sighed and fooled his skinny arms "Well someone got Jupiter mad"

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved. I went over to him.**

"Maybe his teacher will tell him" suggested Dakota, but everyone just shrugged

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

Octavian sneered "Look who's wrong now" "Whatever" Dakota told him

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it. **

"Slow" Octavian coughed

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

Dakota rubbed his hands together "Moment of truth"

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

Octavian jumped up from his seat "BOOYA!" Everyone just looked at him and said the same thing "sit down"

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

"Ew! I HATE pre-alegebra….so stupid" pouted Gwen

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

Reyna fooled the page and closed the book. "That's it for now. After dinner come here and we'll continue. Agreed?" Every shifted from foot to foot but agreed. "See you then" and with that they left leaving Reyna alone with her thoughts. "This…this boy Percy, I-I know him…or so I should cut that, I have seen him before! But where?!" Reyna _hated _not knowing things. It made her feel so useless and defenseless. "Don't worry Reyna" she thought to herself "Just keep reading and you _will _find out. I'm sure of it"

_**Hello! Thanks for taking your time to read this fan fiction. It took my about two weeks to finish. It would mean sooooo much to me if you would leave a review or something.  
***I DO NOT OWN NOTHING. ALL RIGHT GO TO THE TROLLING MASTER RICK RIORDAN*****_


	2. Chapter 2Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks

Hazel was excited to read the next chapter to that mysterious book. She didn't want Reyna to give them a break. She wanted her to keep reading. Hazel was surprised that they all kept quiet. Well semi point is they were just sitting there listening to every word Reyna read.

At dinner Hazel found herself sitting next to Dakota, Gwen and as usual Frank. Dakota leaned in and looked around to check if anyone was ease dropping "Guys, this Percy guy. We should know about him" "For the first time I agree with Dakota" Gwen said. Frank was going to say something but Hazel cut him off. She felt bad but she had a gut feeling that maybe Nico would know him. "Guys, maybe Nico knows this Percy kid, you know the whole traveling thing. He probably stumbled into him" "We should ask him" suggested Gwen "Yeah, if he comes around" added Dakota. "Is there any way you can get a hold of him?" asked Frank. Hazel thought for a second. Can she call him? No, he doesn't have a cellphone and Camp Jupiter has strict rules on technology. Plus she didn't know how to work one of those things. "I don't think so. Besides he doesn't have a cellphone." Frank grinned "Let's hope that he pops up" "Oh he will" added on Dakota "I'm guessing sometime this week" Gwen raised an eyebrow at him "and you would know this because?" "Oh he has a schedule not written down but a pattern I guess would say." Hazel looked at him with disbelief "that's really creepy" Frank commented. How could Dakota figure this out?! Dinner passed fast. They went to meet up at the library.

Hazel tapped Reyna on the shoulder "Ah Hazel, just the person I wanted to talk to." Reyna said with a smile. Hazel was surprised Reyna never talked to her with a smile "what's up?" Hazel asked shifting her weight from foot to foot. "While I was reading I noticed something ah rather weird" Hazels heart stopped beating "Oh gods" she thought to herself "she found out! ABOURT MISSION HAZEL!" Hazel gulped "what was it exactly?" Reyna looked at her as if she were studying her pulling out her darkest secrets. "I noticed an object appear next to your feet when I was reading" Hazel dazed out she suddenly like she was back in New Orleans. "Not now!" she thought but it was too late

"Hazel I need a Topaz…_now"_ her mom told her "Mom-" "Mom?" her mom responded "Er- I mean Queen Marie. I can't summon any topaz. Sadly there aren't any around here" "NONSENSE" yelled her mom. "It's not-" Hazel began but her mom cut her off again "Go find one then" "Yes Mo- Queen Marie." And with that Hazel left her house in search for a topaz. Within five blocks she found one. Walking back she ran into Sammy her only friend in New Orleans. "Hazel!" he yelled running towards her. "Sammy, hey" she said greeting him with a hug. "Long time no see" said Sammy "Couldn't agree more" she responded "so…what 'cha got there?" he said looking at her hand "Oh this" Hazel said bringing up the topaz for Sammy to see it more clearly "It's nothing just a fake topaz I found on the street" Hazel couldn't find herself to tell him the truth. If she did he would look at her like if she was freak…which deep down inside she knew she was. Sammy looked at her "It looks real to me" Hazel faked a smile and tried to look amazed by the topaz "I know right its awesome, but I got to get going" She gave him one last hug and went running home knowing that her mom would be mad at her for dragging so long to bring back home the topaz.

"Hazel!?" Reyna said shaking her violently. Once Reyna saw that Hazel had opened her eyes she stopped "Are you okay?" "Damn it another blackout" Hazel thought out loud "Blackout?" Octavian asked she had his attention which was the last thing she wanted. "Uh yeah, its normal though." her fellow campers didn't look satisfied "It's a Pluto thing" everyone just shrugged. "So the book?" Hazel said "Ah yes" Reyna said handing her the book. "Read the next chapter?" "Love to"

**Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death**

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

"The mist" Reyna said shaking her head

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

Reyna just looked down. It seemed to Hazel like if she felt bad for Percy. Reyna feeling bad for someone: whoa.

**It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

**Almost. But Grover couldn't fool me. When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

"He has to be a half-blood too" Gwen said

**Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum. **

Octavian rolled his eyes "Stupidity"

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat. **

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

"I remember when that was going on" Dakota said

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

"Poor Percy" Hazel thought to herself

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

"Oh Percy so feisty" Dakota said snapping his fingers in a Z formation making everyone slime except for Octavian

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

"Ouch" commented Frank

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

Reyna sighed and looked disappointed

**I was homesick.**

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

Gwen looked down and whispered something to herself

**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

"I wonder if I'll ever meet Percy" Hazel thought to herself

**I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well. As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him. **

"He's starting to realize he's a demigod" Dakota jumped up and down in his chair

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

Hazel looked at Reyna giving her a confused look "you'll learn that later Hazel" said Reyna

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

That made Hazel itchy in the stomach, she knows how that feels and it isn't very pleasant

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson. **

Frank was going to say something but Octavian shoot him his best shut-up look

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried. **

Octavian rolled his eyes for the millionth time. Hazel wanted to slap him upside the head but she couldn't. Octavian was already suspecting that she was an odd one.

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

"Weird description" Hazel thought

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... worried about Percy, sir."**

By this time Hazel noticed that everyone well except for Octavian was antsy to find out what was going to happen next

**I froze.**

Gwen took a quick drink from Dakota Kool-Aid

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

Reyna shrugged

**I inched closer.**

Every reacted to that by inching closer to Hazel which kind of freaked her out a little

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too—" "We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more." "But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline—" "... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too—" "We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more." "But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline—" "Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can." "Sir, he saw her..." "His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that." "Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean." "You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—" **

Hazel took a deep breath in and kept reading

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

Gwen bit her lip

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

Hazel could've sworn she heard Octavian squeal but she pushed that thought aside

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow. **

Franks eyes lit up and Hazel knew the reason why. See Frank's weapon of choice is the bow and arrow. He wishes he's the son of the god Apollo even if that means being related to Octavian.

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

"Go gon' get caught" Dakota commented

**A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**

Reyna's eyes went wide open but she didn't say anything

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

"Isn't that like the feast of fortuna?" Dakota asked Reyna. "Yes, you annoying Roman, gosh doesn't your mind process anything?!" Octavian snapped. Reyna shoot an evil glare at Octavian that brought Hazel goose bumps. "Octavian shut it already. We had enough of your rude comments towards the campers and the book." Reyna brought her attention back to Dakota. "Yeah, well kind of in a way…I guess"

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**

"I-I felt something" Octavian commented mimicking Dakota. Dakota just gave him his best death glare along with Gwen. "Wow Gwen sticking up for Dakota" Hazel thought

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

Gwen made a face as if she just had a sour patch kid for the first time

**"Don't remind me." The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

Octavian was going to say something but Hazel cut him off by reading

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

Frank sighed and muffled something under his breathe which from what Hazel understood was "I wish I had ADHD"

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

"Risky" Gwen said

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

Octavian was about to say something _again _but Reyna gave him a look. Hazel enjoyed this. Yeah it was mean of her but Octavian deserved it he treated the rest of the campers like trash. The only reason why he had friends was because he bought them and not only that but they feared him.

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?" **

Gwen shook her head as if Graver was talking to her

**I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

Dakota closed his eyes and mouthed: no

**"Just... tired."**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.**

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

"Poor Percy, I wish I could've helped" Hazel thought

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back.**

Gwen nodded. By this time it really freaked Hazel out

**They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

Octavian put both his hands on his hips "Ya don't say?!"

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

"Uh-oh someone's in trouble" exclaimed Dakota

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."**

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

Dakota made a disgusted face which Hazel couldn't help it but crack a big grin

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say.**

**"This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

**My eyes stung. Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

"Ouch" Hazel said

**"Right," I said, trembling.**

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"**

Gwen cuffed her hand over her mouth and her eyes went wide

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.**

**"Percy—"**

**But I was already gone.**

Gwen looked offended as if she was Mr. Brunner "Rude."

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

Dakota shot up from his seat "Thug life!" he yelled. No one could help it but smile. Even if he sometimes didn't act like a Roman he broke the awkwardness and brought everyone even sometimes Octavian a smile.

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

"Oh but you are my dearest friend" Hazel thought to herself

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

"Cool" mumbled Frank

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

"Monsters!" Gwen shouted

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

"Impatient much?"

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?" Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"**

Goosebumps went down Hazel's back. She remembers seeing the kindly one's and they aren't so kindly

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**

**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..."**

Dakota whispered to Gwen something, making Gwen grin

**"Grover—"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**

Tsk tsk tsk

**His ears turned pink.**

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.**

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like: Grover Underwood Keeper Half-Blood Hill **** ******, *** **** (***) ***-**** "What's Half—"**

Frank looked at her with confusion "Read the whole thing Hazel" everyone nodded and agreed to his comment "C'mon Hazel it's in Latin" Reyna nagged her. By this time Hazel was getting aggravated "I can't read it because it's filled with stars!" all she got in respond were puzzled looks "Look" she turned the book towards them. "Maybe they don't want us to know where this mysterious Half-Blood hill is at." She explained. Reyna bit her lip "I agree with Hazel" after that they all nodded in agreement

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address." **

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy. "Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**

Gwen scowled "Really Percy? It clearly says _hill_"

**He nodded. "Or ... or if you need me."**

**"Why would I need you?"**

Frank grind "Ouch"

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."**

Everyone (minus Octavian) started asking Reyna questions at once "I don't know." She said out loud

**I stared at him.**

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.**

"Beautiful friendship" Gwen stated wiping a fake tear away from her eye

**"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"**

"Monsters" murmured Reyna

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway. **

Gwen made a puking noise making Reyna crack a smile

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else. **

**We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there.**

**On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

Hazel cracked a smile. She remembered being young and buying good from the local stands in the neighborhood. She felt a flashback coming on and quickly dismissed that thought and started reading

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

Hazel raised an eyebrow but continued reading

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

Reyna furrowed her eyebrows as if she were trying to figure out something. Dakota shivered "Creepy."

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses. The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

Gwen galloped

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

Reyna turned her head sideways "Huh"

**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."**

Franks eyes went wide as if he realized what was going on in the book

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back. **

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

"_Parcae!" _Reyna's eyes were filled with horror she started stuttering uncontrollably "He- he seen- seen a- life- get- get-" Gwen went to her side "Calm down Reyna" she sat next to her keeping Reyna calm

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life. **

**The passengers cheered.**

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

Reyna's jaw dropped open "Uh-oh"

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?" He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

"Yeah much worse" Dakota said. Gwen looked at him "You do know you're talking to a book right?" But Dakota just shrugged

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older.**

Dakota shot Gwen a quizzed look but she just shrugged "I dunno"

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

Franks jaw dropped open "He's discovering he's a demigod" Hazel was the only one who took his comment into consideration

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

**"What last time?"**

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

"I think we'd all be scared if one of our friends started acting up like Grover is" commented Gwen most of them nodded except for Reyna and Octavian.

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

"Um…YEAH!" Dakota said loudly, making Gwen jump up from her seat

**No answer.**

**"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

"Ding, ding, ding! Finally he gets something right" Octavian commented you could tell right away that what he said was full of sarcasm

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

Hazel closed the book and hand it to Reyna. "Time to rest. Remember I want you here at 5:30 am." Just when Hazel was at the bottom of the stairs of the Principia Reyna stopped her "Hazel" "Yes" Hazel responded turning around to face Reyna. "Have a good night sleep" Reyna finally said with a warm smile on her face "You too" Hazel responded and with that turned and walked towards Fifth Cohort place.

_**Finally I updated! Sorry for taking a long time but I was super busy. So on Monday I might not have school c:. Also can you guys do me a favor and check out my other stories? It would mean a lot. Thanks for adding this story to your favorites and following it I love you less then food but more than going outside hehehe. **_


	3. Chapter 3 Grover Unexpectedly Loses His

Gwen got up early that morning. She just couldn't wait to read what happens next in the book. Unlike her other friends she showed her eagerness. For some strange reason she wanted Nico to show up. Even he gave her the chills, something about him didn't seem right. He looked as if he was hiding something.

At breakfast she sat with the usual people. Dakota took a sip a _sip! _From his Kool-Aid "Dakota are you okay?" she asked. He arched his brows "Uh, yeah" "You just took a _sip _from that" Gwen pointed at his glass full of Kool-Aid, his eyes widen "Oh my gods, who am I?" he looked at his hands making sure they were still his. Hazel patted him on the back "It's okay Dakota…it happens" he didn't look satisfied "to all of us" Hazel added. Frank nodded and raised his cup motioning cheers.

As soon as breakfast was over they ran towards the Principia.

"Um," Gwen's voice was unsteady "can I read?" Octavian was about to say something when Reyna cut him off "Of course Gwen" she handed her the book

**Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants**

Frank chuckled

**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.**

Gwen and Hazel looked down "Wow" Gwen thought

**I know, I know. It was rude. But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to he sixth grade?"**

"I would've done the same thing" commented Dakota

**Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom.**

Reyna cracked a smile "It's a miracle!" Gwen cried

**Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.**

**"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver.**

**A word about my mother, before you meet her.**

**Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck. Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.**

Gwen frowned she felt so bad for Sally, "she really didn't deserve that" Gwen thought to herself

**The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.**

A warm small smile appeared on Octavian. "He's human," Gwen thought "he has feeling!"

**I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. My mom doesn't like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She has no pictures.**

Most of them sighed. They knew what Percy meant. It was the same thing with them.

**See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.**

"What a love story!" Gwen thought to herself. She wished she could share her comments but that was very Roman of her. But she couldn't help the Venus come out on her.

**Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea. She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.**

**Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nicknamed him Smelly Gabe.**

Dakota started laughing silently. Not making any noise just gripping on to his stomach. That's what Gwen liked about Dakota he wasn't afraid to show his emotions.

**I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.**

Hazel made an expression that looked like she wanted to barf. Frank and Dakota actually made the noise. "Why can't cam be like this?" Gwen thought

**Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along ... well, when I came home is a good example.**

**I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.**

**Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."**

**"Where's my mom?"**

**"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"**

"Sounds like a faun to me" declared Frank, for the first time in her life of living in camp Octavian agreed with Frank

**That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months? Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.**

"Yup," Octavian added on to Franks comment "has to be a faun." Gwen jaw dropped she was about to check Octavian to see if he had the fever but he smacked her hand away "Don't touch me" he said with a serious tone. Gwen couldn't help but laugh

**He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our "guy secret."**

**Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.**

**"I don't have any cash," I told him.**

**He raised a greasy eyebrow.**

Gwen wrinkled her nose

**Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else. "You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. "Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"**

"Damn" Dakota said under his breath

**Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."**

**"Am I right?" Gabe repeated.**

**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**

**"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."**

**"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"**

**I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study." He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.**

Gwen barfed a little inside "Yuck" she said

**I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.**

Octavian looked up "Ah the taste of sarcasm"

**Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.**

Reyna's eyes widen "intense"

**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic—how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone—something—was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.**

**Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"**

**She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.**

"Awe," Gwen though "that's soooo sweet"

**My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad. I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe. "Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"**

**Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home.**

Dakota dazed out, Hazel snapped her finger in front of his face bringing him back from cloud nine

**We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right? I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.**

**From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?"**

**I gritted my teeth.**

**My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.**

**For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself. I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad.**

"Wow"

**Until that trip to the museum...**

**"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets.**

**"Did something scare you?"**

"Yes, Mom" Gwen said out loud

**"No, Mom."**

Once again everyone inched away from her

**I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid.**

**She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me.**

**"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach." My eyes widened. "Montauk?"**

"**Three nights—same cabin."**

**"When?"**

**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."**

**I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.**

**Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"**

"What a guinea pig" Reyna said with full disgust in her voice. "Guinea pig?" remarked Octavian "You wouldn't understand" she gestured Gwen to keep reading

**I wanted to punch him, but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.**

**"I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip."**

**Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**

**"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."**

**"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your stepfather is just worried about money.**

**That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."**

**Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"**

Gwen rolled her eyes in disgust

**"Yes, honey," my mother said.**

**"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."**

**"We'll be very careful."**

**Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."**

**Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.**

Everyone chuckled minus Octavian and Reyna. "I love this guy" Dakota said , everyone looked at him with wide eyes "NOT IN THAT WAY!"

**But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad. Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought? "I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now."**

**Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.**

Once again they all chuckled but this time Reyna joined in.

**"Yeah, whatever," he decided.**

**He went back to his game.**

**"Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about...whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"**

Dakota whistled "Oh she knows,"

**For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes—the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride—as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air.**

"uh son!" he added

**But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.**

**An hour later we were ready to leave.**

Franks eyes widen "That long!"

**Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking—and more important, his '78 Camaro—for the whole weekend.**

**"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."**

**Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.**

"You didn't scare the seagull away, it's your fault" Dakota said pointing at Frank

**Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain. As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the staircase as if he'd been shot from a cannon. Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out.**

"Oh gods," Dakota manage to say through his laugh "we need to meet him."

**I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it. Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets, and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.**

**I loved the place.**

**We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.**

Dakota turn to whisper to Frank, Gwen only caught a couple of words "I….made… there…ew…old people…babies" Frank raised his eyebrows his jaw dropped finally when Dakota was done he snapped. "EW! Now I won't be able to get that- I feel like hurling" he stood up and ran towards the bathroom. "Should I keep reading?" Gwen asked "Yeah"

**As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.**

Dakota squinted "creepy"

**We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.**

**I guess I should explain the blue food.**

"Please" Gwen commented

**See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This—along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano—was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**

Gwen's eyes went wide "wow"

**When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.**

**Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk—my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.**

**"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."**

**Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud." I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.**

By this time Frank had returned from his visit to the bathroom

**"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... when he left?"**

**She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."**

Dakota started to fist pumped got up and pointed at Frank "You sir owe me ten bucks!" Frank looked at Dakota as if he were a child "Oh no, no, no. You see I didn't agree to your little disgusting bet." Reyna raised an eyebrow "What was this bet about?" she looked at Dakota for an explanation but Frank cut in. "Trust me Reyna, you don't wanna find out." Reyna nodded but gave Dakota her signature we'll-talk-about-this-later look.

**"But... he knew me as a baby."**

**"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."**

Dakota gritted his teeth "ouch"

**I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.**

"He was h-" "Dakota!" Reyna snapped at him

**I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me...**

**I felt angry at my father. Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.**

**"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"**

**She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.**

**"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something."**

**"Because you don't want me around?" I regretted the words as soon as they were out.**

**My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I—I have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away."**

"Camp Jupiter" suggested Dakota

**Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said—that it was best for me to leave Yancy.**

**"Because I'm not normal," I said.**

"Not at all"

**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe." "Safe from what?"**

"Monsters" Octavian commented

**She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me—all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.**

**During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.**

Reyna's shook her head in disbelief "One eyed giant, unbelievable"

**Before that—a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.**

**In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.**

**I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword.**

**But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.**

**"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy—the place your father wanted to send you. And I just... I just can't stand to do it."**

"She was afraid to send him to Camp, but why it's the _only _safe place for Demigod" Hazel stated

**"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**

**"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp."**

"A summer camp?" Frank questioned "aren't we a 'you-stay-here-your-whole-life-camp'?" Frank had a point apparently he got everyone to agree with him cause they all started asking Reyna questions "Romans settle down, maybe this book is from the future. Our camp might change its ways through the years." Everyone seemed to agree to this but even Gwen saw that Reyna wasn't convinced at her own words.

**My head was spinning. Why would my dad—who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born— talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before? "I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I—I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."**

**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ..."**

**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry. That night I had a vivid dream.**

Dakota scoffed "Don't we all?" he asked

**It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf. The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.**

**I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, No! I woke with a start.**

Octavian whistled

**Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses.**

"Oh gods, you're in a cabin" Hazel murmured

**There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.**

**With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane."**

**I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.**

A shiver went down Gwen's back "Neptune"

**Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice—someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.**

**My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.**

**Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... he wasn't exactly Grover.**

**"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?"**

**My mother looked at me in terror—not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**

**"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"**

Gwen noticed that no one was saying anything, not even Dakota. "They must want to know what happens next" she thought.

**I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing. "**_**O Zeu kai alloi theoi**_**!" he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you tell her?"**

**I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on—and where his legs should be ... where his legs should be...**

**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: "Percy. Tell me now!"**

"She used the voice you use on a dog" Octavian said full of disgust in his voice. Reyna looked at him and in a stern voice said "Octavian, shut it." Octavian was to stunned to react his face _priceless_.

**I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.**

**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. Go!"**

**Grover ran for the Camaro—but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.**

**Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven** **hooves.**

"A faun?" Hazel asked Reyna "Guess so" Reyna answered. Dakota raised his hand "One question, shouldn't Fauns be like in Camp Jupiter" Reyna bit her lip not knowing what to answer. "Some roam free" Hazel answered him giving Reyna a small smile. Gwen remembered that she hasn't told them the chapters over. "Plus, the chapters over so…" Reyna licked her lips "Very well then, go to your morning activities and come back after dinner." Gwen wanted to protest but she knew better then to go against Reyna's orders. They all murmured got up and left except for Octavian. "He's probably going to try to convince Reyna to let him read the books" Dakota told the group "Doubt Reyna will let him." Gwen responded "See you later" she added and walked towards her sword fighting class.

_**Hey guys! So it's been long time since I updated this story but I finally did it. I DO NOT own the characters. Sadly Rick Riordan does. So yeah I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave me some feedback, something's I should add and stuff. Plus who should read next? Leave a review telling me who you think should read next. **_Please check out my other stories ^-^ thank you and toddle-oo


	4. My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting (pt1)

Frank was still trying to destroy the image Dakota put in his head about Percy's mom and Neptune. Even walking next to Hazel didn't help. Ever since he arrived to camp she was the only one who didn't treat him like an outcast. His heart did a small gymnastics routine whenever she came around. Even thinking about her made him feel all fuzzy inside.

"You okay?" Hazel said, snapping him out if his thoughts.

"Yeah," he lied "It's just the book."

Hazel studied him "You sure?"

Frank wished he could tell Hazel how much he liked her. But he held himself back. _Scare her away and you'll be alone. For good. _He didn't want to destroy their friendship… it was worth more than a thousand diamonds.

"It's just the 'bet' that Dakota did." He added air quotes when he said bet.

Hazel fanned her face; she always did that when she found something awfully disturbing. "Oh goodness."

Finally she stopped fanning herself. "Well I mean," She started to straighten out her shirt "Was it something dirty?"

Frank shifted his weight from foot to foot. "Should've never mention it." He grumbled.

"Excuse me?" Hazel asked

"It has to do with Percy's mom and Neptune." He left it off at that. Just re-thinking about it made his stomach do flips. And not the good kind.

Hazel began to fan her face again. "Well I got to get to class, see ya." And with that she left.

His afternoon activities didn't drag at all. In fact before he knew it, it was time for dinner.

He began to sit with Gwen and Dakota after the books came in. Who knew that literature would bring a bunch of kids together?

"-craziest thing; the books are in Latin." Gwen explained as everyone at the table dug into their food.

Dakota's eyes widen "No way! That's so cool."

Gwen turned to him with the biggest smile on her face that it looked like it hurt. "RIGHT!"

"So," Frank started "who's gonna read next?"

Everyone went silent

"You." Hazel said

Frank almost choked in his drink "Me?"

This time Gwen stepped in "Well, who else is named Frank?"

Frank couldn't believe this. He hasn't even been claimed by his dad and his friends are choosing him to read the Percy Jackson book. "You guys sure?" this time he turned to Dakota.

Dakota patted his back "Positive."

Gwen was about to say something. If it wasn't for Hazel's brother. Nico, appearing on top of the table.

He smiled awkwardly "Hi."

Because of Nico appearing out of the blue; Reyna cut their dinner short to meet in the library.

"You're telling me; I have to stay here at camp cause of some book?" Nico asked

"Not just any book," Reyna snapped "it was sent by Venus herself. Telling us; to read it."

Nico nodded. "So what's it called?"

Reyna took out the book from her bag and handed the book to Nico "Percy Jackson and the Olympians; The Lighting Thief"

The color left from Nico's face drained. "Percy what?"

"Jackson." This time it was Hazel who answered.

Nico clapped his hands and stood up "Well would you look at the time?"

Reyna placed her hand on Nico's shoulder and it was so obvious that he tensed "No."

Nico was left speechless. He sat down next to Hazel. Frank cursed in Latin _summus. _

"We decided that Franks reading." Gwen spoke up

Reyna handed Frank the book "Very well then."

**We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the windshield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.**

Frank swallowed. Percy's mom reminded him of his own mom. So strong and independent.

**Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants. But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo— lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.**

Gwen and Dakota gagged

**All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom... know each other?"**

**Graver's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."**

"Okay, that's creepy." Dakota commented

**"Watching me?"**

**"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend."**

**"Urn ... what are you, exactly?"**

Hazel mouth opened in a matter of time everyone except; Reyna, Octavian and Nico were laughing.

**"That doesn't matter right now."**

**"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—"**

"Nice insult." Nico grumbled

**Grover let out a sharp, throaty "Blaa-ha-ha!"**

**I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.**

Gwen squinted her eyes and mouthed; How?

**"Goat!" he cried.**

**"What?"**

**"I'm a goat from the waist down."**

**"You just said it didn't matter."**

**"Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you underhoof for such an insult!"**

"Satyrs? Isn't that the Greek term?" questioned Dakota. "Poor Faun, using _Graeci _terms." Sneered Octavian, Frank could've sworn he seen Nico glare at Octavian.

**"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?"**

**"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"**

**"So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!"**

Dakota got on his knees "I'M NOT CRAZY!"

**"Of course." "Then why—"**

**"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."**

Reyna did a circle with her index finger

**"Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?"**

"You is a demigod!" someone commented. _Probably Dakota_. Guessed Frank

**The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.**

**"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."**

**"Safety from what? Who's after me?"**

"Oh nothing much, just a Monster trying to trample you." This time it was Nico.

**"Oh, nobody much," Grover said,**

Nico's eyes went wide "Grover?!"

Reyna glared at him "You know him?"

Nico snapped back into reality "No, it's just I had a friend named Grover and oh my gods he was awesome. You should've seen him play soccer he never missed-"

"Can we just keep reading?" Octavian barged in.

Nico smiled "Go ahead Frank."

**obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."**

Hazel's eyes widen "P-P-Pluto?"

**"Grover!"**

**"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"**

**I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.**

**My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.**

**"Where are we going?" I asked.**

**"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you."**

"Camp Jupiter?"

**"The place you didn't want me to go."**

**"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."**

**"Because some old ladies cut yarn." "Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die."**

**"Whoa. You said 'you.'"**

**"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'"**

Dakota raised his hand "Hold it!" Frank looked up "Yes?" Dakota huffed "This is getting really confusing already so, please slow down." Frank nodded and began to read.

**"You meant 'you.' As in me."**

**"I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you."**

**"Boys!" my mom said.**

**She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.**

**"What was that?" I asked.**

**"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please."**

**I didn't know where there was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.**

Nico smiled as if he was remembering a fond memory of his. _Hm he has feelings _Frank thought.

**Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of **** ******. **

"Oh c'mon, Frank! Read the damn thing!" Octavian screeched. "Octavian! We went over this." Reyna growled. _Funny how Octavian grinds everyone's gears here. _

**I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really hadn't been human. She'd meant to kill me.**

A shiver pass through Frank's body.

**Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling boom, and our car exploded.**

**I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.**

**I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."**

Frank raised his eyebrow, _'ow' really Percy? Just 'ow'? _

**"Percy!" my mom shouted. "I'm okay..."**

**I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.**

"He has a unique way of describing things." Gwen pointed out.

**Lightning. That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. **

Nico chuckled. Cue the weird looks. "What?" he asked defensively. "You just laughed at- that!" Dakota pointed at the book. "Ima special kid." Nico responded.

**Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"**

**He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die! Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope.**

Dakota was the first one to bust out laughing. Followed by; Hazel, Frank, and Gwen. Nico just cracked a smile. Octavian looked at them with full disgust while Reyna had her best poker face on.

**"Percy," my mother said, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered.**

**I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.**

Gwen spoke up "You think it's a Min-" Reyna cut Gwen off with her eyes "Remember Gwen, names have power." Gwen swallowed and nodded.

**I swallowed hard. "Who is—"**

**"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."**

_(A.N: Shouldn't it be dead serious? Well idk cause I got it from a website, sadly I don't own the books *le sad face*) _

**My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking.**

**"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy—you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"**

Octavian rolled his eyes. Frank could already imagine what he was saying. '_Oh my gods, Greeks are soooo stupid. I'm Octavian and I'm the queen. Better than anyone. Even Beyoncé!' _Okay well maybe not the last part about him being a queen, but still.

**"What?"**

**Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.**

Frank started to feel warm inside. Christmas was his favorite holiday. The hot coco, s'mores, Christmas carols, the decorations. Or as his grandma would say; Décor.

**"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door." "Mom, you're coming too."**

Reyna sighed and murmured something about a fata flaw

**Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.**

"Oh Neptune." said Dakota in a dreamy girly voice.

**"No!" I shouted. "You are coming with me. Help me carry Grover."**

**"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.**

"Typical Faun." Gwen commented

**The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he couldn't be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands—huge meaty hands—were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns...**

Everyone in the room went pale. "You think…" started Hazel. Dakota gave a nervous smile "He's only, like what? Twelve. Na, I doubt it."

**"He doesn't want us," my mother told me. "He wants you. Besides, I can't cross the property line."**

Everyone looked at Reyna minus Octavian. She knew what they were asking. "I don't think so."

**"But..."**

**"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please."**

**I got mad, then—mad at my mother, at Grover the goat, at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.**

Gwen winced

**I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."**

**"I told you—"**

**"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."**

Reyna sighed and shook her head.

**I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid.**

**Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass.**

Octavian curled his lip. _He is the sass queen. _Frank thought

_AN: Sorry I haven't updated in years. Also I made Octavian a little bit sorry but don't blame me blame Octavian tumblr (octaviandiva) or something like that. The next part will be up in ohhh I don't know. So yeah the two R's Read&Review. _


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